ALL TOO CLEAR PRODUCTION
THE CLARITY MAY APPEAR aesthetically pleasing , BUT IT MEANS THAT everything is dead ” I n the heart of North America, where the Great Lakes sprawl like vast oceans of icy blue, an invasive Melnick adds: “It was also in the middle of Covid-19 and we were thinking, ‘well, is there a story close to home we can look at?’ It really led us down a rabbit
species lurks beneath the surface, killing off the whitefish that used to call these waters home. It sounds a Stephen King plot, but this is very real. For around a quarter of a century, scientists have watched the prodigious water filterers known as quagga mussels (arriving in ship ballast water collected from the Black Sea) multiplying, as they remove vast amounts of phytoplankton from the water column throughout the Great Lakes, drastically altering the food chain. Zach Melnick and Yvonne Drebert, producers and founders of Canadian independent, Inspired Planet Productions, are highly experienced natural history filmmakers who live on Lake Huron, the fourth largest lake in the world – and the water body that has been most impacted by quagga mussels. When Melnick and Drebert look out over the lake, they can’t see the other side due to its size. But it was this ocean-like appearance that gave them inspiration. “It was an opportunity waiting for us to explore,” remarks Drebert. “We wanted to find out what’s going on with Lake Huron’s most important commercial fish species, the lake whitefish, whose populations have collapsed, therefore creating huge problems for local communities.”
hole. It’s mind-boggling that there’s quadrillions of these tiny mussels that are basically pulling all the nutrients in the water column down to the lake bed.” Quagga mussels may appear no different to other types of shellfish, but through their proliferation, they’re capable of filtering all of the water in Lake Huron in about a week. There’s so much water being sucked through the mussels that they’re redefining the patterns of the lakes’ water movements and upending how ecosystems function. For context, it is estimated that the Great Lakes hold over 5400 cubic miles of water – accounting for over 20% of the world’s fresh water supply. The result is that large sections of the Great Lakes are now crystal clear. Yet while that might sound appealing to some, Drebert says people need to see the bigger picture. “When we go canoeing, we look down and see clearly up to 100 feet,” she says. “The water has become so clear – likely as clear as it has been since glaciation. The transparency may appear aesthetically pleasing for a lot of people, but it actually means everything is dead. It’s probably the biggest change to happen to any freshwater in the last
WORDS Robert Shepherd
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